Every Sense Of the word
by Soursugar88
Summary: Piston gets a cloning machine for his birthday, unknown to him, the machine has a little glitch in it. Of course, Piston being Piston, that doesn't seem to stop him. The whole thing soon spirals out of control. Various POV's, set pre, during, and post movie. Expect angst in the post movie chapters. (rating might be changed to T)
1. I Get a Cloning Machine For My Birthday

_ Author note: here's my first multichapter, and i'm so exited!_

_it's also my first time writing in the first person._

_I'll tell you now, that the POV will change in every chapter, save for a couple of times. I'll tell you when that happens._

_This chapter is from Piston's POV._

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Chapter one: I get a cloning machine for my birthday

"Oh... A... It looks so cool! It's shiny and big and it's a... Turbo, what is this thing?"

"It's a cloning machine, Piston."

"...!"

I can't say I wasn't surprised. I was staring at the machine with my jaw hanging open. Well, what would YOU do if you got a cloning machine for your birthday? I heard Throttle and Turbo talking behind me.

"Thanks, Turbo, now you made my present look bad."

"What, now I'M the bad guy for getting Piston something cool for his birthday? Besides, I feel I still owe him for the trophy incident, so I got him this machine as compensation."

"Which reminds me, Turbo," Throttle asked Turbo, "Where exactly DID you get a cloning machine?"

"I can't tell you. Now, back to the matter of the confused racer," Turbo said; because right around the middle of their conversation, I had switched from staring at my present to inspecting it. I couldn't believe Turbo actually cared about the trophy incident. So I beat him in a race and he yelled at me, big whoop! At least, that's what I thought he was thinking about that. Judging by the cloning machine he got from who knows what game as compensation, apparently not. I decided that if I got this cool machine as compensation, then I'd better know how to work it.

"Turbo, how do you work this thing?"

"Easy. Open the chamber door, press the green button, and get in the chamber and close the door."

"Oh. Okay."

I did what he said, and as soon as I got in the chamber, I was engulfed with some green gas. I was in there for ten seconds, and then all that gas got sucked up by some overhead tubes, though I still couldn't leave. I waited a few other seconds until the door opened and I could leave. Once I stepped out, I looked at the chamber that was next to me. There was a vaguely human-shaped form made out of the gas. I couldn't wait.

"Turbo, how long exactly is this going to take?"

"Half an hour."

I'm sure I deflated a lot. I decided to pass the time racing around the track. Imagine my surprise when I was driving out on the track when Turbo drove up on his kart and asked me "want to race?" He facepalmed when he must've thought that it was a dumb question. I answered the question in the obvious way: driving to the start line. We both started, but I slowed my pace, just in case, because the last thing I needed on my birthday was Trophy Incident 2: the Dark Return. We went around the track fifteen times, until the half hour was up. We both headed back to the house (I ran) to see if the machine did its thing.

The clone still wasn't done. I pulled up a chair and stared at the machine, waiting for the clone to finish. I was so happy, I'm sure I was grinning-

"You're grinning like an idiot."

Yep, I was. Turbo must've decided that he had better things to do than stare at the machine. He went upstairs to do something, I don't know what. After what seemed like forever, the door to my clone's chamber opened, and my clone stepped out. It was nice, certainty looked like me a lot, except one glaring flaw. I ran up to Turbo's room, and when I opened the door, I saw him sitting on the floor, doing something in a notebook.

"Turbo, there's something wrong with my clone, it's..." I began, but trailed off as I realized he wasn't responding, face scrunched up in annoyance at whatever was in that notebook. My first thought was 'Trophy Incident 2: the dark return!' so I backed out of the room slowly. Unfortunately, I tripped on my foot and fell, which seemed to jolt Turbo out of his notebook-induced trance. He quickly slammed the thing shut and shoved it under his bed.

"Oh, Piston, did the clone finish?" Turbo asked me.

"Yeah, and it turned out great! 'Cept for one thing." I said hesitatingly.

"What? What happened?"

"I'll show you. See, there's some sort of error. My clone is..."

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_author note: what, you thought i would tell you what happens in the first chapter? R&R please, you have no idea how happy it makes me. :)_

_...and no, the notebook is NOT Turbo"s diary. that would be just plain weird. :P I'll tell you later!_


	2. My Stupid Machine Has a Bug

_A/N: okay, this story is officially doing worse than my oneshot._

_ahhhh! i forgot to tell you when the story takes place! one week after Racing Through Troubles. (my oneshot btw.) that's the ' trophy incident.' you don't *have* to read it, but you can if you want to._

_this chapter is from Turbo's POV._

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Chapter Two:My Stupid Machine Has a Bug

As soon as Piston said "I'll show you ," I knew that something big had happened. Had the clone come out horribly disfigured? Had it come out as a maniac? Had it come out at ALL? He told me what had happened exactly with the clone, and I had to see it to believe it. When I saw it, I was just devastated.

Of course, I didn't show it, then the twins would know I... care. I remained stoic as I inspected the clone around. The clone sure looked like Piston enough, though with a few obvious differences due to the imperfection. I observed the clone, who was walking amiably around, looking for something to eat, finding something quickly. She prepared to wolf down the-

Wait, stop, hold the phone. _SHE?!_ Yeah, the clone was female. I couldn't believe it. I wanted to scream out in frustration and throw myself on the nearest chair, but that would show that I care. Piston walked up to the clone, not minding the imperfection. The two immediately struck up a conversation about something Piston-like. I rolled my eyes and walked upstairs. As soon as I got in my room, I slumped down on the floor. This stinks. Is this karma's way of paying me back for the trophy Incident? Seems I can only do one thing. I was the greatest racer ever, but only that. I decided to give up on the 'thinking' for now, cause all it was doing was making me depressed. I just pulled out that notebook and continued doodling in it (what? Is that a crime?), until Piston burst in my room, (has he heard of knocking?) clone in tow.

"Hey Turbo, why are you up here?..."

"...And what are you doing in that thing anyways?" the clone finished. She had a voice a few notches higher than Piston's. She had a faint 'hourglass waist', and a little bit of jet black hair peeked out from under her helmet.

"Earth to Turbo,"Piston said. I slammed the notebook shut and shoved it under my bed.

"What?" I said flatly.

"The clone is so cool! Well, I call her an alternate, because calling her my clone is weird. Where on Earth did you get a machine that can do that?"

"It wasn't supposed to do that."

"Oh. But anyways, it's so cool!" I was confused. Piston liked a cloning machine with a bug? I needed to know about the clone-sorry, alternate. Piston walked towards me, but tripped and knocked his elbow. I noticed something. When Piston fell, the alt grabbed her elbow in pain too! I rolled my eyes (still can't let them know I care) and helped Piston up. As I did, I asked the alt "you felt that?"

"Of course I did. We share the same code, remember?"

I remembered something I couldn't believe I forgot. Since Piston and his alt are basically the same person, if one gets hurt, the other will feel it. Same goes for powerful emotions.

"Well," I began to say to Piston, "you'd better head out. Arcade opens in five minutes. "

"What to I do?"the alt asked me.

"I don't know! Alt stuff! Do whatever you usually do when the arcade's closed!" I said that because I knew Piston and his alt share memories up until the alt was cloned.

"M'kay," the alt said reluctantly. Piston pulled me away and whispered to me "But Turbo, usually I do stuff with Throttle when the arcade's closed." I turned away and rolled my eyes. Just then, I heard the front door open then close. Throttle was back from Tapper (at least, that's where I think he went), so I did the one thing a SENSIBLE person would: I ran downstairs and asked (forced) Throttle to get in the machine. I went back upstairs, where Piston's alt was in a deep stupor.

"What is she... Doing?" Piston asked me. Funny, I was asking myself the same thing. I remembered something from when I... Got the machine. The clones would share memories, but it would take awhile for them to settle in. That's why it (I still had a problem calling it 'she') had no idea what's in the notebook. I told Piston what the alt was doing, but remembered again: I threw Throttle in the machine, and Throttle's alt is just about cooked.

"Move!" I pushed him away from me and ran downstairs. Throttle was waiting for me, with a concerned expression on his face.

"What is it, Throttle?" I half asked, half sighed.

"Door's jammed." Sure enough, the alt was rattling the door on the inside.

"I got it. You just have to..." I twisted the knob a certain way and the door opened, and the clone stepped out. She was identical to Piston's alt, just she clutched her head because her memories were flooding back to her. I looked at the two alts, Throttle's seemed to get over the head pains, and they struck it up as they known each other their whole lives. In a way, they did. Throttle and Piston were also talking with the alts. Just then, everybody, alt and true, snapped their heads towards the door.

Someone was knocking.

* * *

_I apologize for the embarrassing length of the first chapter and this one._

_R&R please, i you don't, I'll get tricked into thinking no one cares, then I'll discontinue the story, and that would be bad news for the people who DO care. i have nothing against anonymous reviews._


	3. The strangest day yet

_A/N:chapter three, up! Oh, I won't be updating as fast now, because I have to type the whole chapters now. Chapters 1,2&3 were already written. Later chapters will take longer to get on the site, because I didn't write them yet. this chapter is from Felix's POV._

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Chapter Three: the strangest day yet

I waited outside the door of my friend's house, trying to say 'happy birthday' to Piston. When I knocked, I heard Turbo screaming his head off.

"Hide them! HIDE THEM!" Then, I heard someone running, then falling over, then Turbo saying "get up, you clumsy idiots," then someone running up the stairs and some more running, then something falling on the floor, then a plate breaking, then a sound like someone is trying to move a couch, then a lot of plates breaking, then a thunk and some more running, and finally Turbo came to the door. He didn't have his helmet on, and the black hair normally hidden by it was disheveled.

"Hey Felix, what brings you here?" he said completely casually, leaning across the doorframe.

"Uhmm... I wanted to say 'happy birthday' to Piston," I said uncertainty.

Piston jumped so his head was visible beyond what Turbo was hiding. "Thanks!" He yelled at me. I wonder what they were hiding, though it's really not my business.

"Can I come in?" I asked, trying to peek over Turbo's shoulder. He waited for a second.

"Sure."

I eased my way in the house. There were broken plates on the floor, and and some big thing crudely covered with blankets and with pots stacked on it. The twins were looking nervously at me, Piston's eyes darting around the room.

"Where's your helmet?" I asked Turbo. He put a hand to the side of his head and for the first time realized he didn't have his helmet on. He walked upstairs grumbling something under his breath. I turned to the twins, silently inquiring what was going on. I noticed there was an axe on the floor.

"why do you have an axe?" I asked.

"it's a long story," Throttle replied. Then, I heard some scuffling from upstairs, then sounds of a fight. Every second, either Throttle or Piston would clutch some part of them in pain. Even though I was confused, I ran upstairs to end the thing, with Throttle and Piston following me. I heard yelling too. Throttle threw open the door to one room, and I saw Turbo fist fighting with two girls that resembled the twins. One of them tried to get out, while the other was defending herself well. Throttle was looking for an opening to pry the two away, while Piston tried to pry the girl away immediately... and got hit square in the nose. The girl not fighting, and who managed to worm free, clutched her nose, and went to help Piston up. I pushed myself to the middle of the two fighting, and tried to act as a human crowbar. It worked, and the two separated. The girl dusted herself off and crouched over Piston with the other girl. Golly, they look so much like the twins... I dusted myself off and crowded around Piston with the others. At this point, everybody except Turbo was crowded around Piston. His nose was upturned, which I knew for a fact wasn't right. I helpfully gave it a tap with my hammer, and helped him up, though with five people doing so, I'm sure we probably were doing more harm than good. Piston looked at Turbo sadly, and I could hear Piston gulping down a lump. The twins and the female twins (I thought they were twins, they look it,) were glaring at Turbo, and so I followed suit. He stormed out of the room, but returned a second later and pointed at the door. Nobody left, though. He turned to me.

"Felix, get out of here," he said. I knew better than to argue. I was heading out, when the two girls came down too.

"Who ARE you?" I inquired from the girls. They exchanged glances and looked upstairs, then one spoke in a whisper.

"Okay," she said, " here's the divvy: it's Piston's birthday today, and somehow Turbo got a cloning machine for him. But, the clones are gender swaps. I'm Throttle's clone, she's Piston's clone, though we're referred to as alternates, or alts for short. The machine's under the blankets." I have to admit, my curiosity was piqued. I peeked under the blankets.

"Don't worry," Piston's alt reassured me, "the machine's silent." I stepped in the chamber, because I think that's how it worked. Piston's alt closed the chamber door and pressed a big green button. Last thing I saw before I was engulfed with gas was one of the alts leaving for somewhere, and the other holding the cloth up. Ten seconds passed, and the door opened. I stepped out. I opened my mouth to ask how long it would take for my alt to be ready, but Throttle's alt answered me before I even asked. It would take thirty minutes?! The arcade would open soon, and I didn't have that kind of time.

"Hurry up, we'll look after the clone!" Piston's alt reassured me.

I thanked both alts, and wishing Piston's alt a happy birthday (if they were really clones, it was her birthday too, right?) I headed back to my game.

The day dragged on forever. I was restless all day. Once the arcade closed, I bolted to the train to Game Central Station and rocketed into TurboTime. The trio and two alts were standing in front of the house, Turbo holding a girl by the arm. She had brown, wavy hair, and my blue eyes. She had loose jeans and a blue T-shirt over a white long sleeved shirt, and a yellow bow in her hair. It was when I saw the tool belt with a golden hammer in it that I realized she was my alternate. Turbo didn't look very amused. The alts, well, the alts besides mine looked sorry, and the twins looked just plain weirded out. Turbo gestured to my alt.

"Explain."

"Well, y'see, I, uhm, was curious, and cloned myself...?" For lack of better words.

"Did I say you could use my machine?"

"Well," Throttle began, "it isn't your machine, really. You gave it to Piston, and if his alt is basically the same person as he is, then it's her machine too. If she let him use it, then it's fine."

Turbo said nothing, only became interested in the Wonderful World Of The Fingernail. He practically jumped out of his avatar when there was a rattling noise from inside the house. Piston started to go inside to look at the machine, but Turbo rather comically blocked the door with his body, eyes wide. He glared at Piston, who backed away quickly. Turbo went in the house with everybody staring at him, including me. There was a clicking noise, and, after a few seconds, the rattling stopped. Turbo walked out the door, with an obviously forced smile.

"Look, why don't we all go to Tapper, get some root beer," Turbo started. He ran and pushed my alt towards the exit.

"But, what about the alts?" I asked.

"They come too! Anything but going in the house!"

"And why is that?" Throttle asked, suspicious.

"Because... Because we need root beer, and the alts come, so come on!" He grabbed my wrist, and Piston's too. Piston was struggling to get out of Turbo's grip. An idea dawned on him.

"Hug me," he said cheerily to Turbo.

"What? No. Why?"

"Hug me, or I won't come."

"Neither will I!" Piston's alt yelled.

"Remember what you did to me this morning?" Piston said, making a puppy-dog face. "You broke my nose!"

"Felix fixed it, so, not a problem."

"But-"

"Not. A. Problem. If it's fixed, I don't care!"

"Hug me!" Piston said again, rebounding to the original sort-of conversation.

"Piston!" This time, Turbo ran away, and Piston chased after him.

"What was that about?" Throttle's alt wondered aloud.

"The question that all of us are asking," I said, which extracted a chuckle from my alt. We all heard footsteps, as Turbo ran back and pressed his back to the side of the house Piston wouldn't see. Piston came around a few seconds later, and because the door to the house was open, he figured Turbo might be in there. He went inside, and...

"What the heck?!"

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_A/N: writing this chapter gave me the WAFF's (warm & fuzzy feelings). in chapter four, the pre-movie plot starts. Just sayin. Oh, in case of confusion, Piston delivered the last line of the chapter. Oh, and his line of 'hug me!' is actually rational if you think about it._


	4. A Mistake

_A/N: well, here you go. Chapter four. Didn't take as long as I thought._

_Oh, I can't tell you who's POV this chapter is in. I make it obvious, though. Just so you don't rule anyone out, it's a new character. And an alt. :)_

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Chapter Four: A Mistake

I was standing in the room, when Piston walked in, and yelled. I stood there confused, as Felix, Throttle, Turbo, and the alts rushed in, everybody except Turbo gawking at me. What were they all staring at? I was just...

Oh, right.

I wanted answers, and I wanted them fast. I mean, I remember them, but I was locked in that code-forsaken capsule for a whole working day by... Myself. I marched up to Turbo, and grabbed his collar, yanking him towards me. I felt a pain on my throat for a second, but I didn't care.

"Look," I said, speaking for the first time since I was spawned, "I want to know exactly why I can't be shown to them," I gestured to the others, "I know that my existence was a mistake," I spat the word like I would the worst curse,"and I know you'll possibly delete me in the future, but why can't I be shown to them?"

I got no answer from my counterpart.

"Tell me, or..." I began to search my shared memories for something Turbo didn't want revealed.

"...or I'll tell where exactly you got the cloning machine."

His eyes bugged out at me. Success. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me outside until we were under the stands. He darted his eyes around, and then said "it's because people, including you, think I'll delete you. But, I sort of think you should stay. And it's embarrassing."

"If it's embarrassing, then why do you do it?"

"Because!"

"That's your answer? 'Because?' I've heard better from that root beer I had last week!"

"Wow." In the middle of our banter, Throttle came up to us, and was watching us. "What a deep, strange conversation you're having. With... Yourself."

We were just staring at him, for a whole three minutes, which is forever in Awkward Standard Time.

"_Tapper_?" Throttle offered.

"Yeah," my counterpart agreed.

"Name?"

The surge protector stopped us for a 'random' security check that I always hated, even they weren't technically my memories.

My counterpart looked less-than-amused.

"Turbo, Throttle, Piston, Felix, and the alts."

"The alts?"

"Yeah, alternates. Y'know, clones?"

The surge protector's eyes bulged out of their holographic sockets.

"Clones?!"

"Yeah, what's so bad about clones?"

Surge protector stared at him.

"You're familiar about the fact that there is a link between the clone and original, so if one dies, the other goes too!"

Everybody gasped, and Turbo looked shocked. "I-I never thought of that..."

"Well, too late for that now. Better delete their codes. They're imperfect anyways, and you better destroy the machine. No telling what would happen if that thing got in the wrong hands. Besides, cloning is illegal."

Turbo nodded his assent and robotically walked back to the game. I followed him, because there really was nothing better to do.

When everybody got back, I was waiting for them at the door. I silently jammed my thumb upstairs, and mouthed the words, "he's crying." Then, as an addendum, I mouthed, "don't tell him I told you." Throttle immediately ran and stood in front of the door to Turbo's room. He tried the door. Locked. He rapped on the door.

"Turbo? It's me, Throttle."

"Go away!"

Throttle resumed jiggling the knob, then his shoulders sagged. His alt was mildly annoyed.

"I'll get the axe."

Two minutes later, we had gained access to the room, but Felix had to fix the door. Turbo somehow found a way to weasel somewhere, and I might have an idea where. I could see his helmet hidden under some debris so as everybody checked the room, I took of my own helmet and slid under the very low bed. I was right. I looked at my counterpart and whispered, "you know, this is a very obvious hiding spot."

"I know. Get out."

"Why are you here?"

"You of all people know why I'm here. You are the only person besides myself that knows exactly why I can't destroy the machine."

I mentally facepalmed. With our shared memories, I, of course, knew why all this was happening.

"Turbo?"

Oh, great. Piston's alt found us.

"You know, that's a very obvious hiding spot."

I told him.

"Why are you taking it this hard anyways?" The alt asked.

"I can't tell you," me and my counterpart said in perfect unison.

"Okay, that's a little creepy."

"A little bit, yeah," I agreed. Then, the surge protector's words crossed my mind again. I looked at my counterpart.

"Are... Are you going to delete us?"

He looked at me.

"No, I'm not deleting you. Or any of the other alts for that matter. I'll think of something. I'll think of somewhere to hide you. Mark my words."

All of us were in the kitchen, sitting at the table, contemplating what exactly to do.

"Well, I heard Mr. Litwak talking about a new game that should arrive today,"

Piston's alt offered. "Maybe we could hide there?"

"No," I said, "the protector'll know."

We sat in silence for a little while, then Turbo spoke up.

"You know, in Game Central Station, there's a big plug outlet on the wall?"

Throttle answered uncertainty, "yeah..."

"Ever wonder where that went?"

I'm sure I was flying at the speed we all ran to the outlet. There were steps leading up to the outlet, so we ran up those, and into the plug. There was a train there. Only difference from the ones in the GCS is that these had roofs, and they were smaller. We all climbed into it, and there was a pad in the middle of the train's dashboard, and it gave us the option of many locations.

"Game Highway? Wireless Hotspot? The Grid? Where the heck are all these things?" I wandered aloud.

"I think we should probably try 'the Grid.' It sounds promising," Felix's alt offered. Since none of us really had a better idea, we went with it. I tapped the icon bearing that name, and the mini-train set in motion. It was going at a fair speed along the wires, when, we reached a metal section, and the wall opened in front of us! The train took off into the air! I was glued to the window. This was so much more than I've ever seen of the real world, according to my shared memories with Turbo. I saw a huge structure looming towards us. I wasn't sure what it was at first, then a door opened on the side of the structure, and our little tram-thing flew in it, I knew this must be the place. Once the tram landed, I popped open the door, jumped out and... And stopped dead in my tracks. The Grid was huge. There were ports as far as the eye could see, and the place was packed with characters I've never seen before! The others joined me, taking in the vastness of the place. Felix's alt spoke up.

"See, I told you this place sounded promising!"

"Mmm-hmm," I said, only half listening.

"Okay, time to stop gawking and find a place to hide the alts," Turbo interjected. We immediately started looking at the game titles for a suitable home.

"'Exit Path.' That sounds easy," Piston's alt offered. "We could be avatars!"

One of the many Protectors on the Grid walked up to us. She had the standard uniform, and spiky hair.

"Exit path? You don't want to go there. It's a death trap," she said.

"Uhm, thanks, spiky hair protector lady," I said.

"My name's Spark. What brings you to the Grid?"

We all crowded together in a huddle, as we contemplated what to do.

"What are we supposed to do?!" Felix's alt said in a panicked tone.

"I don't know!", Throttle said.

"I mean, it's not like you can just tell her we are imperfect clones," I said, " after all, it is illegal."

"Um, hello!" Spark yelled to us, "I can hear you!"

We got out of the huddle and slowly turned to face Spark.

"Don't worry," she reassured us, "I won't say anything." She must've seen the panicked expression on the others' faces.

"Okay," Throttle began, "can you tell us some things about this place?"

"Yes, I can. I work here y'know. This is the Grid, where all online game characters linger whenever they aren't being played."

"What if the player unexpectedly starts a game?" Throttle's alt asked.

"Extra lives. Now, there are protectors at every port, to make sure the right number of extra lives are in the game. In case you're wondering, I'm on that port over there. It doesn't have anything. I'm stationed at it because I'm young and my boss thinks this is the only job suited for me."

I had to admit, I was disappointed. I was hoping she could hide us in her port. I turned around to look at the others, who looked disappointed. Throttle's alt got a strange light in her eyes. She whispered in Turbo's ear, then he asked Spark,

"How long does it take to program a new world?"

It took three hours. We had to sit in the unused port for all that time, to avoid calamity of the whole 'alt/counterpart link' thing. Finally, Spark stepped into the port and said "okay, all you have to do is press the green button in the tram, and you'll be set! I scanned your codes, and they're in the code vault, which is in the basement of the building, just in case."

Turbo facepalmed. "Why would you tell them that?"

"Just in case. Now, I hope you like it there! I have to guard." And with that, she zipped away. The eight of us jammed ourselves into the tram, and to Spark's instruction, Throttle pressed the green button. We experienced the same flying in the air as coming here. I was pressed on the window, same as before. We arrived at the external port soon.

It was like a mash up of fix-it Felix JR and TurboTime. It had the apartment building and scenery of Fix-it Felix, and I could see the racetrack of TurboTime peeking out from behind the building.

"You four will stay here," my counterpart said. "It's impossible to die here."

Me and the other alts rushed in the new world. The others were spinning around, trying to take in as much landscape as possible. I, on the other hand, was just glancing around, for what reason, I don't know. Just my (shared) feelings with Turbo told me to. I saw Felix's alt swiftly turn around and head back to the exit. We all followed her. Where the boundary should've overlapped with the exit, a red line started forming around the edges, and was inching towards the floor with each step the alternate Felix took, until she reached the wall... and was pushed back. She looked shocked at this turn of events, and the rest of us were shocked too. We all attempted to pass through the barrier, with the same result. All our counterparts looked sorry, except mine, but I could tell he was sorry too. We all were lined up right before the barrier, facing our counterparts. I glanced to the side of me, where Piston's alt was holding her breath I elbowed her. "Breathe."

She took a shaky breath and pressed herself on the barrier. Piston looked sad about this whole thing as he stared at his alt. Said alt turned her head towards me...

"Hug me and die."

She instead opted for Throttle's alt, who was on the other side of her. I directed my attention to Felix's alt, who was on the other side of me. She and Felix were whispering something to each other, Felix every once in a while putting a hand on his alt's shoulder to console her. I turned to my counterpart.

"Why did you trap us in here?"

He sighed. "I know you. If I don't, you'll get cocky and wander out. I can't take that risk. Y'know, because if you die, I'll die too."

I sighed. Guess I was stuck here. Turbo whispered something in all our counterpart's ears, and they started giving final goodbyes to their alts. Turbo turned to me.

"I really don't know what to say. I've only known you for a few hours."

"Felix knew his alt for a few hours, and look at them!" They were talking like they knew each other their whole lives.

"I know. Just, I have to say, 'remember'. "

Remember? What in Code did that mean? He slowly turned away, all the others following him, stealing last glances at us. I watched until the tram left the port. I sighed and stuck my hands in my pockets. I felt something. I pulled out the napkin from Tapper that had a code written on it.

_"Remember."_ I smiled.

"You think you can trap me," I said to the air, "I'll get out. You wait and see."

"I'll get out."

_A/N: and so ends another chapter. Oh, by the way, I'll just say that yes, this chapter is from the viewpoint of the alternate Turbo. Her existence will be explained in detail in the next chapter. Oh, I forgot to describe the alternate Turbo's appearance. Silly me. She has a more defined 'hourglass waist' than the first two alts, and instead of short hair that only just peeks out from under her helmet, her hair is halfway down her back._

_... And yes, her hair is black. Why such different features? Because the main character of a video game tends to have more defined features than NPCs. Either the next chapter or the one after that will close the pre-movie segments. R&R!_


	5. Things Get Ugly

_A/N: chapter five! Wait, wahat? No love for chapter four? Eh, I'm not too proud of it, either. Okay, this one was my favorite chapter to write. It makes little sense, but fun to write. It's mostly filler, so might not be that good. I just needed something to happen, but this will all come to play in the long run. Important stuff happens and stuff. Warning: appearing, drunk!Turbo,sadness, soul crushing, and FILLER! This chapter is from Throttle's POV._

* * *

Chapter five: Things Get Ugly

As we all walked away from the port that we trapped the alts in, I turned to Turbo, who was right next to me.

"You know, we're going to have to destroy the machine... Or at least return it to wherever you got it from."

He looked like someone just punched him in the gut when he turned so I could see his face. I wonder why he was so pained at the fact that we had to destroy the machine.

"We can't return it to anywhere," he said. I was confused. If he didn't get the machine from another game... then where did he get it from?

The four of us got into the tram, and pushed the green button. Turbo was sitting next to me in the back. His back was to me, and I noticed his breathing was shaky. I put my hand on his shoulder, because it was clear he was upset about something. He shrugged my hand off and tried to inch away from me. I turned him around so he'd face me, and he looked at me quizzically.

"Turbo, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing." his voice was a little cracked.

"Turbo, please tell me."

This time, I didn't even get an answer, and Turbo turned back to face the window. I began to get annoyed. I turned him back around and this time kept my hand in its place to prevent him from turning back.

"Look," I began, "I know something's bothering you, it's not that difficult to see. And even though you were never the nicest guy, and you manage to do something morally reprehensible to Piston every week, you're still my brother, and I don't like to see you this upset. So just tell me what's wrong already!"

Turbo was staring at me, and so were Piston and Felix. Before anyone could say anything, though, the tram stopped and we had to get out. The four of us were silent all the way back to Game Central Station, only talking when Felix headed back to his game. Once the three of us reached the house, I halfheartedly picked up the axe we had for a strange reason, and I turned to face the machine. Piston was staring at the machine, alternating between staring at it and his feet, and Turbo was nowhere to be found. I really didn't want to destroy the machine. Something told me if I did, I'd regret it. Suddenly, there was a noise like someone threw a bag of rocks on the roof. Me and Piston rushed outside to see Turbo lying on the ground next to the house. He looked up at us nonchalantly.

"Oh, hi, Throttle. Piston."

I was dumbfounded.

"Did you just fall off the roof?" I asked.

"So what if I did?" he said. " I'm alive, so there isn't a problem."

"There isn't a problem?!" I repeated, dumbfounded. "Turbo, this house is three stories high, counting the attic, and the roof is high. What were you doing on the roof, anyway?"

"Nothing," Turbo said, and with that, picked himself up and trudged in the house. I decided there was something Turbo was hiding from us, and, since he obviously won't just up and tell me, I could only think of one way to get him to talk. I ran in the house, and went upstairs, where Turbo was sitting on the floor, staring at the wall.

"Turbo, I was going to head to Tapper, you want to come?" I leaned on the doorframe coolly.

"What?" Turbo looked up at me, surprised.

"I said, I was going to head to Tapper, do you want to come?" I repeated. Turbo was shaken out of his stupor, and got up.

"Sure."

I was silent the whole way to Tapper, mostly out of guilt of what I was planning to do. My plan was to get Turbo hammered so he won't be thinking straight, and he'd spill the pixelated beans. Turbo, over the two minutes it took to get to Tapper, went from surprised to doubtful, to absolutely giddy. Now, it was my turn to be flabbergasted. I've never seen him this happy since...

Actually, I've never seen him this happy, ever. It only added to my guilt. We reached Tapper, and we slid on a couple of stools. Tapper noticed us, and quickly poured a mug for each of us. I didn't even touch mine, when Turbo slammed his empty mug next to me. Tapper said nothing, only poured him another mug. This was going to be easier than I thought.

The minutes turned to hours, and one mug turned to well over twenty. I didn't have much myself, only Turbo was obviously hammered next to me as he asked for another mug.

"Root! Another teer bapper!" he yelled, slurring. Tapper looked at him

"Y'know, I think you've had enough, Turbo," he said. Turbo slammed his hands on the counter.

"Another!"

Tapper obliged, and Turbo tipped his head back and attempted to pour the drink in his mouth, only to pour the contents of the mug on his face, and on his clothes, basically anywhere but his mouth. He dropped the mug on the counter.

"Tapper!" he called, barley down to earth, "another! I dunno where that other one went."

Tapper sighed and poured another mug for him, and this time Turbo got most of the contents in his mouth. I looked at him. He was swaying, and he had his head on the counter to keep from falling over. He looked a little paler than normal.

"Turbo," I began, "I think you had too much." He looked at me and broke out in a giddy smile.

"You're riiiiiiiiight, of coooourrse, I've had toooo much..." He slurred the whole statement, and flopped on my shoulder.

"Come on, Turbo, let's head back to TurboTime," I helped him up, and walked slowly to the exit, Turbo leaning on me and stumbling all the way. Once we got on the train, he flopped over on the seats and closed his eyes. I hoisted him up and he flopped on me again.

"Turbo, get up, you're crushing me," I said. Okay, it was a little bit exaggerated, but how else was I supposed to get him off me? He looked at me, and acknowledged my presence.

"You're... Um, don't tell me, you're..." he doesn't know who I am?

"Throttle."

"Throttle, right, right..." he broke in that giddy smile, then clenched his eyes shut tighter, and clutched his stomach.

"I don't feel too good... Ugh..." he burped, and slumped on me even more.

"Turbo," I began to ask, "you know that cloning machine? Where did you get it from?" he smiled and tittered a little.

"I didn't get it from anywhere!"

"What..."

"I built it in the code! Took me eight months!"

I was flabbergasted. The code?!

"You built.. It... In the code?" he grabbed my collar and pulled me close.

"Pixel by pixel!"

"But... You said that you got it as compensation for the Trophy Incident, which happened last week!"

He laughed "I liiiiiiied!"

"Why in the world did you lie?"

"Because I didn't want you guys to know that I actually care!"

Okay, being dumbfounded and/or flabbergasted was going to be my new hobby. My mouth was slightly hanging open at Turbo, who may or may not be passed out. The train stopped. Finally. I shook Turbo to see if he'd wake up.

"Huh?"

Good. I helped him up and he arched his arm on my neck and leaned on me as we slowly made our way to TurboTime's outlet, a two minute trip taking fifteen. We each said nothing as we made our way to the house, Turbo passed out before he got to his bed, so I had to drag him in it. I headed over to my own bed and crawled in. Since we're video game characters, we only needed an hour of sleep, which is highly convenient. I thought of exactly how giddy Turbo looked at Tapper, and I began to feel guilty about dragging him there just to get some things out of him. Thing I really didn't need to know.

After the one hour that we slept for was up, I immediately went to check on Turbo. What, I'm concerned. He was awake, staring at the ceiling.

"Hey," I said uncertainly, "you okay?"

He shifted his gaze over to me and moaned. I walked closer to him, and saw he was pale. Well- paler.

"You okay?" I asked him again.

"No."

"What's wrong?"

He looked at me. "Why do you care?"

I stared at him. Before I could say anything, he spoke up again.

"You care just because if I'm too sick to race, the game'll get unplugged."

Pessimist.

"Turbo, I care because I'm your brother. Why is that so hard for you to comprehend?" He clawed at his face, squeezing his eyes shut.

"My head..." he moaned.

"Well, that's what happens when you have over twenty rounds in Tapper," I told him. He looked shocked.

That many?!" he said, "I only remember having five!"

An awkward silence followed. After just standing there for who-knows-how-long, Turbo spoke up.

"Thanks."

I looked at him. "For what?"

"For..." I couldn't hear the rest, he was saying it too quietly.

"Wait, what? I can't hear you, Turbo."

"For actually caring enough about me to invite me to Tapper!" He rolled over. I stared at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Nobody likes me... Everybody I meet hates my guts."

"What about Felix? He doesn't hate you."

"He doesn't count. He's nice to everybody."

"Turbo, not everybody you meet hates you," I tried to reassure him.

"Oh yeah? Name one person that I met and then didn't try to avoid me in Game Central Station."

It was true. Everybody Turbo talked to ended up trying to avoid him in the Station.

"I thought so," he muttered. I was feeling horribly guilty of my real reason why I invited Turbo to Tapper. Turbo cracked a smile at me. I halfheartedly sort of half smiled back at him, then left. I dragged myself downstairs and plunked myself in a chair, thinking about the conversation between me and Turbo, the more I thought of it, the more guilt piling up in me, until it became unbearable.

"Agh! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" I yelled, and ran clumsily upstairs. When I got there, I threw the door to Turbo's room open and started rapid-fire talking.

"Turbo, I'm sorry! I-"

"What for?" Oh Code...

"Turbo, I didn't just up and invite you to Tapper, I wanted you there so I could get you hammered and you could tell me things that weren't really on a need-to-know basis in my mind, Turbo, I'm sorry!"

Turbo was staring at me with a pained expression, then he turned away.

"S' my fault, for thinking that someone would actually spend time with me without an ulterior motive," he muttered, barley loud enough for me to hear. I slowly turned away and made my way downstairs. I put my face in my hands. I knew this was a bad idea from the start! Piston was sitting across from me, and I could see out of the corner of my eye that he was thinking about something. I heard footsteps coming down, and I stiffened. Piston, on the other hand, was jumpier than popcorn in a microwave. Turbo came downstairs, facing away from us the whole time. Piston stood up and tried to back away, forgetting there was a chair there, and he stumbled and fell over the now toppled chair. He stood up and backed up some more. There was another chair. You do the math.

He stood up again, and stared at Turbo, who turned around to face him. I think I know where this is going...

"Piston..." Turbo said through gritted teeth. Piston stiffened visibly. Turbo continued, "can't you just turn around? And don't you know there are chairs there, after living here for five years?..."

Okay, I was half right. I was expecting some angry yelling-

"...You annoying, clumsy, boneheaded, naïve WASTE OF CODE!"

Ah, there it is.

Turbo stormed back upstairs, probably not wanting anything to do with us. Piston righted one of the chairs and sat down on it, with an obviously forced smile on his face.

"Piston," I asked him, "you okay?

"Fine," he squeaked out. I looked upstairs, and blindly stormed upstairs to Turbo's room.

"TURBO!" I yelled while simultaneously throwing the door open, "I don't care how angry you get, but Piston is not some brick wall you can yell at whenever you have to let off steam! How would you like it if whenever I was angry, I came to you and started listing every possible bad thing about you?! Well, what do you know?! I have to let off some steam! So here goes! You're the most self-centered person I ever had the displeasure of sharing a game with! In fact, you don't even deserve to be the star of this game! If you ask me, Piston should be in your position! He deserves it!" I finished my rant, panting. Turbo walked slowly towards me, a cold angry glare plastered on his face. Every pixel in my code told me to run, leave, I made my point, just go! Suddenly, without warning, I was on the floor, facing the ceiling, Turbo half mindlessly pummeling me into the floor. I was trying to get out of Turbo's pin, at one time I pried my helmet off my head and tried to use it as a weapon, only for Turbo to fling it away, and bash my head into the ground, hard. I was starting to get woozy, until I saw a blur of blue tackle Turbo off of me. Piston was trying to hold him down long enough for me to get away. I got up and stumbled. Turbo flung Piston off of him, and I stumbled downstairs, and picked up the axe. I faced the cloning machine and raised the axe above my head, when someone tackled me down from behind, and it didn't take a genius to figure out who. While I was trying to move my arms closer to the machine, Turbo was pulling my arms back. Piston was trying to pull Turbo off of me. I gained the upper hand and jerked my arm out of Turbo's hand, swinging the axe at the machine. Over the ringing in my ears, I heard Piston screaming for Turbo to get off me, and I could hear Turbo himself begging me to stop. Or at least, I think that's what was happening. I couldn't tell with half my vision clouded and a ringing in my ears. If that' what was happening, though, I didn't listen, only continued demolishing the machine. When the machine was reduced to nothing but a heap of metal, glass, and wires, time seemed to stop. I was pinned to the floor facedown, with Turbo on top of me, shaking, given up on the whole 'forcing my hands away' thing, and Piston, the only one standing up, was trying to pry Turbo off of me. But, we all stopped moving, because I did what I needed to do, and so I wasn't struggling. I wasn't struggling, so Turbo had no reason to pull my arms back. Since Turbo wasn't pulling my arms back, Piston had no reason to pry him off of me. The three of us were just there, until Turbo got up and stiffly went outside. I picked myself up after that, but when I turned around Piston widened his eyes at me. I touched my cheek, and found that I had a gash there, and I had no idea how I got it. I decided to just leave the game, for a few minutes, as the arcade opened in ten minutes. As I was leaving, I saw Turbo at the starting line in his kart, like he was awaiting a quarter alert. I continued on out the game where the Surge Protector stopped me. Before he could ask anything, though, I gave all the answers to the questions he would ask.

"Throttle, TurboTime, Fix-it Felix JR, I hate you, and the machine's destroyed." Surge eyed me annoyingly because of my rapid fire speaking. "Proceed," he said dully. I did so, and brought my hand up to the lump at the back of my head. It hurt to touch, and no doubt it would hurt to put my helmet on, and I couldn't appear to the players without it. I arrived in Fix-it Felix JR, not just to clear my head, but hoping Felix could fix the lump. I walked away from the train, and I stopped and slid under a tree. Felix was at the front of the building, so he heard me coming. He walked over to the tree I was sitting under.

"Throttle, what brings you here, neighbor?", he asked me. I turned my head and showed him the lump at the back of my head. He put his hand to his mouth and tapped it with his hammer. Finally, the ringing in my ears stopped, and my vision wasn't clouded anymore. I flopped down on the grass, and I felt Felix's hammer where that gash was. He knelt down so I could sort of see him.

"Throttle, what exactly happened?", he asked me, concerned.

"Well," I recounted, "it all started when I felt like Turbo was hiding something..."

"...and that's what happened," I concluded my retelling if the night's events. Felix was looking at me sadly.

"Well, I'd better get going," I said, "arcade opens soon." I got up and dragged my feet to the train. I climbed in, and I had a premonition that something would happen today.

Something big.

I'd better be on my toes...

* * *

_A/N: ohhh, so *that's* where the cloning machine came from, whoudathunkit? Poor Piston. And Throttle. And Turbo. Why do I do this to them? Oh, right. The plot. The next chapter will close the pre movie segments. Please review. I like it._


	6. Going Turbo

_A/N: wow, chapter six. I got it done faster than I thought. We got this far, and..._

_And that's it. We got this far. As you know, this chapter closes the pre movie segments, and by the title, we allllllll know what's going to happen. This chapter is tiny, with 827 words compared to the at least thousand word count of the other chapters. (save for the first one.) This type of chapter needs a name! So, a small fan fic is called a ficlet, so I guess this is a chapter-let? No, CHAPLET! So, not a very long chapter, but it is an important one. This chapter is from Turbo's POV._

* * *

Chapter six: Going Turbo

I sat in my kart at the starting line, waiting for the arcade to open. I gripped the steering wheel so hard that my hands were white. Well, whiter. Piston was in his kart next to me, crying in his hands. He can be so dramatic sometimes. Okay, maybe that thing I said about throwing him off the roof was a little harsh, but still! And all that other stuff I said might be a factor in all this, but still! The arcade would open in less than a minute, and Throttle just got back from wherever he went. He didn't have that gash on his face anymore, the one I gave him when we were fighting. He quickly went into the house for his helmet, and he ran and situated himself in his kart. He stuck his helmet on his head and tried to avoid looking in my general direction. This kind of thing happened a little too often for comfort, but I knew how it would go. We would race all day, then Piston would complain to Throttle, then Throttle would drop it for his sake, and of course Piston would stop being angry in the first five minutes.

Nothing serious.

* * *

The day was normal in terms of gameplay. But, we were two hours in the day, and neither of the twins were talking to me. I mean, it was usual for Throttle to hold this kind of a grudge, but not Piston! During gameplay, he was looking to the side instead of straight. Probably would be a few days until this blows over. Oh, well, at least I still had the game.

A few more hours passed, until I heard the unmistakeable sound of Mr. Litwak bringing in a new game. He set it down across TurboTime, and plugged it in. Once the screen lit up, the two boys who were playing my game abandoned it for the newer one. I squinted at the new console, and tried to read the name. RoadBlasters. I turned my kart around and sped towards the exit. I thought I heard another engine, but I think it was my imagination. I sped on the side of the plug and rocketed in the Game Central Station. I quickly darted my eyes around for RoadBlaster's outlet, which was right across my game's. I floored my kart into the other game and sped across the screen of the newer game.

"Turbotastic!" I yelled as I drove across the screen. I heard the two boys on the other side.

"Is that Turbo?"

"What's Turbo doing in this game?!"

"Turbotastic!", I yelled again. This time, I rammed into the car.

"Turbotasti-i-i-i-i-..." I was stuck as the whole game glitched and as I tried to control my kart, but it was too glitched up for me to do anything. I jumped out of my kart and ran for the exit. There were no people in RoadBlasters, so at least nobody would die. I jumped into the train in the plug, and silently begged it to go faster, as I could hear the unmistakeable sound of a plug being pulled out of its socket. I burst into Game Central Station just as the plug was fully pulled out. I leaned on the wall and tried to catch my breath. I could see the Surge Protector coming towards me, and the last thing I needed was an angry Surge. I lifted my head to where TurboTime's outlet was, but nothing was there. I ran across the Station to the empty outlet.

"Throttle?... Piston?..." I uncertainty called into the outlet. I was answered with silence.

"Throttle!? Piston!?" I yelled a little louder. Nothing. I turned around to face away from the plug.

"Throttle! Piston!" I yelled at the top of my lungs out into the Station. I was only met with an echo of my voice across the empty Station. I looked up at the large outlet at the top of the wall, and I blindly ran towards it, all my senses clouded. I tumbled in the strange flying pod and just blindly pressed one of the options. I could hear the Surge Protector yelling my name and some other things I won't repeat, but then the pod set into motion.

Too late.

The twins must've gone down with the game. I just know it. I was devastated, but I didn't cry or anything. I had to... To do something. Try to find another game in the arcade? No, word would get out, and everybody would be out for my blood. Live with the alts? No, too many painful memories. Travel the Grid? No, I don't know my way around...

Wait. Travel the Grid? That just might work! I could find a new game, as an add on, during an update or something. That might work!

No,not might._ Will._ That_ will_ work. I know it.

I was going to win, in every sense of the word.

-END OF PRE MOVIE SEGMENTS-

* * *

_A/N: that's it. The end of the pre movie segments. It might be some time before the next update, because I have a new story I'm publishing. Wait... Sweet! I got a title drop in there ahead of schedule! Score! The during-movie chapters is basically the alts take on everything that's happening in the movie. There will probably be only one or two during movie chapters, and then the post movie plot kicks in._


	7. And now back to the alts

_A/N: I'm baaaaaaaaaack! After a loong wait, by my standards, for chapter seven! Short chapter. I had noooo idea what i was doing. Ahem, anyways, this chapter takes place during the movie, the only chapter to do so, right around the time the RRR starts. This chapter is from the alternate Felix's POV. _

Chapter seven: ... And now back to the alts.

We've all been trapped in this port for twenty five years now. I'm not the one counting. Turbo's alt is. I'm actually content, there was ample to keep us entertained, this place was actually better than Fix-it Felix. I'm usually trying to figure out what Turbo's alt is currently doing in the code. I mean, I was stuck there holding the rope, so I had to do something. Of course, I wasn't doing that now, actually, I was looking for the alternate Turbo. I haven't seen her in days. I mean, I know where she is, locked up in the apartment she has, but whenever I try to come in and talk to her, she throws things. Mainly onions. Don't ask me what they're doing in her apartment, cause I don't know. I decided to try one more time to try and talk to her. She doesn't bother locking the door for whatever reason, so it was easy just to walk in. I braced myself for the assault of the onions, but none came. That was strange. I searched the apartment for the alternate Turbo, finally finding her in the bedroom. She was laying face up on her bed, and she was holding half an onion up to her face, the other half reduced to onion shavings. She turned to face me, and she was... Crying?

"Hey," I asked, "you okay?"

She rolled her eyes like it was the dumbest question she heard. She gestured to the onion in her hands.

"Oh." Then, I remembered why I was in here. "Why are you in here all the time? And what's with all the onions?"

"Why I'm in here?" Turbo's alt repeated, "I'm confused. You wouldn't understand what the onions are for."

"You're confused?"

"Yes!" The alt threw her arms up in exacerbation.

"Confused how?"

"My counterpart. You know that we alts can feel whatever powerful emotions our counterparts feel?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, in my case, 'powerful' means 'all.' And, it's strange. It's all strange. I wonder what's happening to my counterpart."

"Strange how? You just said it has to do with emotions? So, what's going on in that department with your counterpart?"

"That's just it! Usually he's happy, with angry mixed in. But on two days, he's sad. Pretty much crushed."

I was confused. "Two days?"

"Yeah. Two days every year. I've checked. Look under my bed." I looked, and pulled out a box, with twenty-four calendars in it.

"Look at October," she instructed me. I flipped to October and two days, back to back were circled. October 29 and 30. I checked another calendar. Same two days. I dumped the whole box on the floor and pulled out one at random and flipped to October. Same two days.

"What are these?" I showed one of the calendars to the alternate Turbo, which, in addition to those two days, there was writing in every square on the calendar.

"Oh, those. Everything. I'm trying to figure out what's going on with my counterpart."

"And so far you have..." I circled my hand around in a 'go on' motion.

"Nothing. I've got nothing."

"I don't get it. What I can feel according to my counterpart, he's in love? I think. Usually, it's pretty straightforward."

"I... I'm the alternate Turbo. Nothing about him is straightforward."

"True, true." I noticed something. The regular Turbo was never really... Open, according to my shared memories with Felix. I don't know if he was open with the twins, but not my counterpart. I decided to ask her.

"You're not really like Turbo." Okay, that came out wrong. She just stared at me, the onion was still in her hands, and she was crushing it. I was close to her, and when she was crushing the onion, it made my eyes water. I pried her fingers off the onion.

"C'mon, take your hand off the onion, it never crushed you into oblivion."

She relaxed her grip on the now crushed onion. "My counterpart took care of the 'oblivion' thing."

I really had no idea what to do after that, so I just left the room.

I really hope this isn't serious.

* * *

I was outside, just sitting there, when I saw a figure come towards me. The alternate Turbo. She was holding an onion, per the norm. She slumped down next to me and stared at the onion in her hands like it was the most interesting thing ever. She started plucking layers from it quickly, and it made both our eyes water.

"Why do you carry onions around everywhere?" I asked.

She blinked, and the tears pooled up streaked down her face. "I like onions," she said simply.

"But, I noticed you never eat them."

"Umm..." Hah.

I wiped away my own onion-induced tears and looked at the alternate Turbo, then at the onion, and I might have had an idea about all those onions.

"What's the onion for, I'm asking you for the last time."

"It's for shoving in people's mouths when they talk too much."

I had a feeling she was lying. "Well, can you put it in you apartment or something? It's making me cry." She robotically got up and headed back to the building.

* * *

It took the alternate Turbo a good half hour to return back, until I began to think she locked herself up in her apartment again, with her onions and her Great Counterpart Mystery, and Code knows what else, until I saw her approaching me again, this time, with no onions. I swear, I have no idea what she needs all those onions for! Okay, I have one idea, but its a stupid one. Anyways, she took her place next to me, as always, and stared ahead.

"This needs to stop," she said to me.

"What needs to stop?"

"This link! It's eating me up from the inside! I've been in the code vault, and I can't find it anywhere!"

Great. She has an unsolvable problem that involves the code, and she expects help from me.

Huzzah.

I mean, I'd help her in any other situation, but I knew nothing about the code! I stared at her, because she was staring into space. Suddenly, she bolted inside the building. I followed her inside, to find her inside her onion-infested apartment, clawing at her helmet, eyes wide.

"What was that about?" I asked her.

"I don't know! I never know!"

It didn't really seem like a picnic, being her. Suddenly, she perked up and cocked her head.

"Does it seem hotter in here, or is it just me?" She asked.

"No, just you."

"Really, it's hot in here." I could see beads of sweat on her, and I wondered what was happening.

"It's burning!"

Her hands were red, and she stumbled back. Suddenly, she exploded into a blob of red binary. I understood what was happening. Something happened with her counterpart. I hoped she didn't die, as I circled around her, trying to judge if this was just temporary, or a permanent death. Apparently the former, as I saw the red pixels return to their original form. The alternate Turbo was on the floor, spazzing lightly as parts of her flickered. She got up shakily as the flickering stopped. She stumbled, and I caught her and let her lean on my shoulder for support.

"What was that?!" I asked in surprise.

The alternate Turbo's eyes got wide, and she whirled around to face me.

"I'm finding him."

"Finding who?" I asked. "You're not making any sense."

She facepalmed. "My counterpart. This link needs to be broken."

"But... He's not here, and you... Are."

She pressed past me and fidgeted with her hands and she walked out the door.

"I'll get out. I'll disable my firewall. I'll find him. He must know at least a little more about the code than I do, and I'll tell him to break the link. If he doesn't, I'll force him."

I watched her go, and then chuckled to myself.

"She can't be serious."

* * *

_A/N: ah, well, that's that. Hopefully, chapter eight won't take that long to get up. The next chapter shall start... THE POST MOVIE SEGMENTS! DUN DUN DUN! R&R, Chapters. Come. Faster. I'm not kidding.*_

_*with the exception of writer's block._


	8. Escapee

_A/N: chapter eight! The start of the post movie segments! I HAVE to say this now: THE POST MOVIE CHAPTERS CONTAIN CHARACTER DEATH! I can't say which chapters contain character death, because... Spoilers. Just thought I'd warn you now. This chapter is from the alternate Turbo's POV, and she has a new title... nickname... thing. _

* * *

Chapter eight: Escapee

"Glance! When are you going to be done?"

"Soon!"

"What're you doing in there anyways? You better not be messing with my code!"

"Pushy, pushy."

I resumed my work, removing the firewall embedded in my code that prevented me from leaving this port. I looked at my code, satisfied. That should do it. I tapped my code wire to close it again, displaying my picture and my title: ALT Turbo. I still don't know why everybody calls me 'Glance.' Maybe because when I'm in a new place, I glance around instead of moving my head. Fairly new title, I wonder what took them so long to come up with it. I gave the rope a quick tug, so the alternate Felix would pull me back. I grabbed onto the wall as the gravity returned and my legs buckled. I was in there for two hours, according to the watch I wear when I go in there. I went back to my apartment with Felix's alt in tow. I rummaged under my bed, until I found the black cloak and gloves I had fabricated in the code room for this occasion. I needed to... not look like myself. I slipped them on, and grabbed an onion, per the norm, and slipped it in my pocket. With that, I headed for the exit.

"Where are you going?" Felix's alt inquired.

"Out."

With that, I picked up my pace, until I was standing where the wall was supposed to be. The wall always kept me from leaving my port. Kind of like the way glitches can't leave their games, but this is reversible. I reached for where the wall was. For the first time, my hand passed through. I cautiously walked away from the flipside, and I was in a train room of sorts, with a shuttle to take people to and away from the Grid. I jumped in the shuttle, and I tried to remember how I worked it when I came here. There was a pad in the middle of the panel that read 001-1A. There was a red button and a green button. In a limb, I pushed the green one. The shuttle moved towards the wall, which opened up to thin air. The shuttle took off to the Grid, traveling in the radio waves. I pressed myself on the glass, taking in the 'real world', until, too soon, the shuttle arrived on the Grid. I put the hood on my cloak and stepped out. I saw the Protector of my port, Spark. I honestly can't believe I remembered her name.

"Hey, you're not allowed there, that port's off limits." She squinted at me a little.

"Wait a minute..." She muttered, "You're an alt! The alternate Turbo, I'm guessing."

"... Yea. I, um, deleted my firewall. Please don't tell, I need to get out, I was going nuts. Plus, I need to find my counterpart and get him to break the link between us, whatever he's feeling, it's eating me alive!" I started to sound hysterical at the end, and I plunged my hand in my pocket, crushed the onion a little, and brought my hand up to my eyes to make them water. Crocodile tears. One of two uses for the onion. Huh, I never used this use before now.

Spark looked at me sympathetically. She gave a wave of her hand to let me know it was OK to pass. I walked by, and took the route to Game Central Station. I still remember it vividly. It took a very long time, with the Grid now being more inhabited, and the fact that I had to stick to the shadows to avoid being seen, despite the cloak, had a say in this too. It was morning when I left, and now it's night. Granted, it was late morning, and now it's early night, but still! When I arrived, I looked around for TurboTime. It wasn't here.

Well, that was strange.

Fix-it Felix was here still, though. I decided not to go there. He might reinstall my firewall. I looked around at all the games. Tapper I remember. That was it. PAC-man I knew about because of all the online versions. I've never heard of Hero's Duty, though. I shrugged and made my way over to the train. It was really hardcore. I started to question my decision, especially after I saw that the whole place was a post-apocalyptic wasteland. I trudged on anyways. I didn't come in this game to wuss out. There was a solider lady commanding many male troops. I tried to skirt around the army, when the solider lady noticed me. She walked over to where I was standing. She was about two feet away from me, and I know if she got too close, she could see my face. I started backing up, but immediately tripped on something.

Stupid scenery.

Anyways, I roped my hand behind my neck and felt my hair and-

HAIR?!

Oh, no. My hood fell off.

The solider lady picked me up and held me by the collar.

"Turbo! How are you alive?" She asked herself. "...and why do you look like a girl?"

"Because I AM a girl! Can't you see?" I retorted, gesturing to myself.

"Look, I have no time for this, you should be executed for what you did!"

... Oh-Kay, my counterpart did a execution-worthy deed. Now I _REALLY_ have to find him.

"What'd I do?" If I played completely clueless, then maybe they would let me go!

"Well, surprised you don't know. Given you look like Turbo, and I can't be sure if I can trust you or not, start talking."

My mind raced, no pun intended, to think up a good lie. Uhm... What's something besides an imperfect clone that's a gender swap? Oh, yeah.

"I'm a bootleg gender swap of Turbo, made by a couple of computer geeks." Thank Code that I remembered Ms. PAC-man.

"Oh, really? What's the name of your game?"

" ," I said without missing a beat. Thank you NAMCO.

"Your name?"

"Nameless. Though people call me Glance." I was taking a huge risk saying my real name.

"Do you know how to code hack?"

"No, no I don't," I said, lying through my teeth.

"Whatever. You're still coming with me. Kohut! Take hold of her!" One of the solders came and grabbed me by the arm. I was beginning to get annoyed. I eased my helmet off my head with my free hand and smacked Kohut with it. All he did was tighten his grip on my arm. Usually, that works. I hope he lets go of my arm, cause I can't feel my hand. The solider lady commanded her troops with her hand, and all of them marched to the train. During the ride, I lost all feeling in my whole arm. Great, in addition to my counterpart's mixed up emotions, I had my own things to deal with. I was being literally dragged around Creation looking for my counterpart. When the doors on the train opened, Kohut jerked me forward into the station. The solider lady held up her hand. He snapped her fingers and pointed at a spot in front of her. He shoved me into that spot, and thankfully let go of me. I flexed my arm as the feeling came back to it. However, the relief was short lived as the solider lady grabbed me by my wrist, and started walking to another outlet. As much as I wanted to jump on her and wrestle my way out, something told me I'd better not do that as I eyed the gun in her holster. I read the sign on the outlet she was dragging me to. Sugar Rush. I mentally jumped for joy, because sugar=candy, and candy=food, and I hadn't eaten all day. As per the norm. I could've eaten the onion on my pocket, but I hate onions. Sure enough, when we reached the game world, everything was made out of candy. My stomach growled so loud that the solider lady turned her head in my direction. I gave her a 'you got a problem' look, and she simply smirked at me.

"No eating the scenery."

* * *

We continued walking until we reached some stands, and... A track? Wait a minute, this is a racing game! I figured that maybe my counterpart might be here. But where? This game was huge! Umm.. Okay, okay. I tried to price together what I knew already. My counterpart lost his game. That might explain those two days where he was basically sad all day, but two days? He did some sort of execution worthy deed. That doesn't help. Crazy emotions? I still don't get it. I was snapped out of my thoughts by the solider lady jerking my arm. Wh were at some sort of race track, much more complicated than any other I'd ever seen. Then again, I've only ever seen two, the second only a copy of the first. If I didn't have other matters on my mind, I'd want to try that track out.

... Nope, I still want to try that track out. I forced myself to derail that train of thought, and concentrate on where the solider lady was taking me. It was some sort of stands, for fan NPCs of this game. There were some steps at the back of the stands, and the solider urged me up them. There were a lot of candy people in the stands, and a character that I recognized as Wreck-it Ralph. According to my small sliver of shared memories with Turbo, he didn't really know Ralph. I wondered if that changed over the years?

"Calhoun," Ralph addressed the solider lady, "who is- _you!"_ He pointed a finger at me, then lowered it when he got a good look at me. Make that the second time today I've been mistaken for my counterpart.

"Oh, sorry," Ralph said sheepishly to me, "I thought you were someone else."

I shrugged. "I get that a lot." He turned to face the side that I couldn't see.

"Felix," he addressed the side I couldn't see, "Calhoun's got a prisoner."

My heart crawled in my throat. Felix?! He could reinstall my firewall, or... Or... Something! I saw Felix pop his head out from the side of Ralph that I couldn't see, and, guess what, he had the same response to me as everyone else. Only, he didn't say anything, just whipped his head to Ralph with a quizzical expression on his face.

"Take a good, long look," Ralph advised. Felix looked me over again, and he looked embarrassed.

"Oh..."

"Don't worry," I said. I was sort of used to it, and something told me I'd better get used to it even more.

"Um, I'm going to show whoever this is," he gestured to me, "around Sugar Rush. I wanted to see this game myself, and now I'd better show her around, so she doesn't get lost." With that, he grabbed my arm and tried to pull me away. Calhoun let go of the arm that she was holding, and I was pulled by Felix into some candy tree forest. After we were out of earshot, he stopped and turned to me.

"What are you doing here? How did you get out?"

"I'm trying to find my counterpart, and I disabled my firewall."

Felix eyed me. "Why do you want to find your counterpart?"

"So he can break the link between us. What has he been doing?"

Felix rocked on his feet. "Well, the day you got locked in that port with the other alts, this other game called Roadblasters got plugged in. Turbo game-jumped during the day and put the other game out of order. Unfortunately, his game got unplugged too. We all thought he was dead, but it turns out he hacked into this game, and created an avatar called King Candy, and made the real ruler a glitch. He died when he got merged with a cy-bug, those are the enemies from Hero's Duty, and they're drawn to light. Ralph made the Diet Cola Mountain explode, and Turbo flew in the light. He was melted."

I drew in a breath. "Oh, so that's what that was..."

Felix nodded. Then, he got this quizzical expression on his face.

"Turbo died... You should be dead... You're alive... Turbo's alive!"

I rolled my eyes. "Duh."

He looked worried. Then, he calmed down a little.

"It _is_ nice to see you, though," he said to me. I gave a little nod, then gripped his shoulders.

"Listen closely," I said, "tell me: where did Turbo die?"

"Over the Diet Cola Mountain." He pointed to something behind me. I turned around to see a mountain shaped like a diet Cola bottle. How could I have missed that? I turned back around, and I let one of my hands fall to Felix's side, and slyly eased his hammer out of the loop. I had a feeling I'd need it. I turned my head to the diet Cola Mountain. My counterpart had a heckuva lot of explaining to do.

* * *

_A/N: so that's that. Anyways, the next chapter is pretty much done. I wonder how quickly I'll post it though..._


	9. From Bad To Worse

_A/N: Chapter nine! I took a long time because this story was merged with another story, and now they're unmerged, and I had to find a whole new plot, and the old chapter nine is now another chapter. Probably the next chapter will be the original chapter nine. Well, a lot of stuff happens between chaps so I can't be sure._

* * *

Chapter nine: From Bad To Worse

It was about an hour since Glance left, and I really had no idea what to do. I considered the twins' alts, but they had their own house at the edge of the port, and I never see them.

What, you thought they were dead? No, their counterparts escaped the game right before the unplugging. I heard the sound of the tram arriving. I ran to the exit, pressing myself against the barrier, and I slumped when I saw Spark Protector instead of Glance, and she looked worried. She also looked different than twenty-five years ago. She was taller, and her hair was a little longer and messier. She ran up to me wildly, her arms flailing.

"Alternate Felix! Alternate Felix! Alter..." She was yelling, slowing down once she was in front of me.

"What?" I asked, concerned.

"My boss, Boost Protector, somehow found out about you guys, I think it was during an overview, and he wants to delete you. And the other alts. So, you have to evacuate. NOW."

I was shocked. All the alts lives were in danger, and we had to leave now. At least we all were here...

"HOLY CODE GLANCE IS OUT!" I yelled, recalling her escapade.

Spark's face fell. "Right."

I cocked my head, trying to wrap my head around this. Some guy's trying to delete our codes so we had to evacuate...

"Wait," I questioned Spark, "why do we have to evacuate when your boss is after our codes?"

Spark smirked. She pulled out a square disk, and I noticed for once she had a bag slung over her shoulder, with a tablet in it.

Anyways, back to the disk. She waved it around.

"This holds your codes," she explained, "I deleted the originals. This is you guys lives. Now, all I have to do is disable your firewalls and we can leave this place!" She zipped away, and I ran to the edge of the port to get the twin's alts.

* * *

"Wait, what?"

The twin alts were understandably confused, so I filled them in as we made our way to the exit. We stood in a line, I was flanked by the alts on either side of me.

We were standing there for a long time, when we began to wonder when Spark would come back.

"Let's try the exit," Throttle's alt suggested. We all headed to the exit, and stopped right before the barrier. I was scared to leave the port, and I knew the other alts were also scared to do it, given it was twenty-five years since any of us left the port.

"Okay," I turned to each of the other alts, " on the count of three. One... Two... Three!"

No one moved.

"Three!"

Nothing.

"Three!"

This time, I grabbed the other alts wrists and pulled them across. I stumbled due to the first time that I attempted to leave the port and got caught by the barrier. All three of us fell forwards, and we saw Spark running towards us.

"Get up, get up!" She urged us, "I was talking to my boss, well, he was rambling on and I was just listing, but he said since all the alts except Felix's don't have games, he's going to delete the counterparts too! We have to find them, and fast!"

Me and the other alts picked ourselves up and headed for the tram quickly. Once it was in motion, Throttle's alt turned to the antsy Protector.

"Fill us in," she ordered.

"Uh, my boss found out about you because he was overviewing the port, and he knew about the 'clones are illegal' deal, cause he's boss. Anyways, I formatted your codes onto this," she produced the disk, "and I know a place you could all hide. But, we have to find the fourth alt, and all the counterparts. You two," she pointed to the twin alts, "I know where your counterparts are. I can see it on this," se explained as she pulled out her tablet, "SIM City, game 810-7K. Find them. Your counterpart," she explained to me, "will be a bit harder to find."

"He came from Litwak's Arcade, and Glance said something about finding her counterpart, who also was from Litwak's arcade," I offered up.

"Good, good," Spark muttered.

"Where are we supposed to go after we found our counterparts?" Piston's alt asked.

"Minecraft. Game 907-6J."

"What's that flashing thing?"I questioned, because the game listing on Spark's tablet labeled 'Minecraft' was flashing. She looked it over and I thought I heard her mutter a curse.

"Tram's down."

"Now what?" I asked. She fiddled with her tablet for a second, and then looked up.

"Minecraft Pocket Edition, Game 947-8Z."

The twin alts nodded their assent, and Spark turned to me.

"You'll come with me to the arcade. We have to find your counterpart, and the other alt."

* * *

The trip to the arcade was short, because the Grid was less crowded than usual. We traveled in silence, but my heart was trying to escape from my chest. Me and Spark stood at the top of the Station, I was trying to figure out where Glance, Turbo and Felix were at. Spark was... I'm not sure what she was doing. She seemed to be spazzing out.

"Hey," I tapped her on the shoulder, "There's a Protector here. He could help us."

"Good. That's good," she mumbled while fiddling with her hands.

"Oh no," I groaned out.

"What?"

"This Surge Protector thinks I was deleted!"

"Well, I'm a Protector. I'll go talk to him."

We headed down to the floor of the Station, where I recalled something else.

"Spark, Glance was wearing a cloak. A black one."

"Okay."

We weaved around in the Station, looking for Surge. I saw him in front of the entrance to Tapper, stopping a character who was trying to get some root beer across the barrier. Spark zipped to Surge, having seen him too. I was close enough to hear what was being said.

"Ey! Protector! Got a second?" Spark called.

"Who are you?" Surge questioned.

"Spark Protector, of the Internet Grid."

"Never heard of it."

"Look, I need your help. Where's Fix-it Felix? No questions!"

"He's in Sugar Rush," Surge informed, pointing to an outlet.

"Okay." Before Surge could say anything else, Spark zipped away. I looked to where Surge was pointing, and ran over there to catch up to Spark, who was pacing in front of the outlet.

"What took you so long?" She demanded. I don't think she was aware I wasn't capable of doing the zippy... Thing she does, so all I did was hop on the train (which was made of sweets) and beckon for Spark to follow. The two of us were squirming in our seats as the train slowed down and stopped in the game. We hopped off and rushed in the game, and stopped in our tracks.

"Holy..." I marvelled.

"How are we going to find him in here?" Spark wondered aloud.

"Start looking," I answered. We ran down the rainbow bridge, and I saw something on the ground that made me so happy.

"Footsteps!" I called to Spark. There were boot imprints, and smaller ones next to it, specifically...

"Glance's! She's here! And Felix's here! And Glance's here, which means Turbo's here! We got everybody!"

Spark looked overjoyed. "What're we waiting for? Follow 'em!"

We tracked the steps like animals stalking prey, and we were dismayed when they ended at the stands... With no Felix.

"Maybe, maybe, maybe..." Spark repeated while circling around. I frowned, because I could feel my counterpart's emotions... And then some.

'Why... Find... Cou... Art?'

Oh my code, I could hear his thoughts!

"Shush!" I held out my hand to silence Spark, and concentrated hard. Nothing came for a long time, then,

'Ove... A... Diet... Col... Moun...'

I turned around, and there was a mountain that looked like a bottle of cola. I realized that 'diet col moun' was 'Diet Cola Mountain!'

"There!" I pointed to the mountain. Spark didn't question, just nodded.

"Through there," she headed towards a forest of candy trees, probably to avoid being seen. We weaved through the forest (I picked some candy tree branches) and stopped in our tracks when we heard footsteps.

"Who could that be?" I whispered.

"Do I look like a game expert?"

"..."

"Do I look like an arcade game expert?"

"Spark? Is that you?"

We both turned around to see Felix staring at us. "And... My alt?" He regarded me.

"No time to explain!" Spark hastily said. "You seen Glance?"

"Glance?"

"The alternate Turbo!"

"Did I ever tell you that?" I asked Spark, not recalling informing her of Glance's identity.

"No," she replied, "I guessed."

"What are you doing here? Not to be rude," Felix asked us.

"We need to find Glance and Turbo. They're in danger," I said.

"Danger?" Felix repeated, shocked. "What kind of danger?"

"No time to explain! Where are they?!" Spark asked Felix rapidly.

"I-uh, Turbo's alternate's headed to Diet Cola Mountain."

"Great!" I grabbed Felix by the wrist and dragged him towards the mountain.

"But-" he protested.

"No buts! Just walk!" Spark snapped back. Felix looked confused, but nevertheless allowed himself to be dragged to the mountain.

* * *

It wasn't a particularly long walk, but it was pretty nice. Felix told me what happened with him all those years, and I told him about the danger.

Y'know, I'm getting really tired of repeating all that.

The mountain was huge. I had to tilt my neck fully upwards to see the top. I jumped when I thought I saw a flash of red halfway up the mountain, but it disappeared after a second. I saw Felix and Spark circling around the mountain, trying to find an entrance, so I did the same in the opposite direction.

I ran my hand over some indentations in the wall, two circles diagonal to each other, continuing up the mountain. It was like something made these intentionally.

Wait... The flash of red... The holes... Diet Cola Mountain...

"Guys!" I yelled to Spark and Felix, who both came running.

"I think I know where Glance is," I informed them happily.

"Where?" Spark questioned. I pointed straight to the top of the mountain.

"Up there."

* * *

_A/N: Uh, so apparently, Minecraft will make an appearance. I LOVE Minecraft, and don't get me started on the sunsets on the PC version. Too bad they only last, like, a minute. Haha, the twin alts are alive, and so are the the twins. I just LOVE doing that. And yeah, the disk that holds the codes is a floppy disk. What is a floppy doing in a game world? What's a NES controller doing in the game world?_


End file.
